New Ulm weekly review., 1887-03-02
BISMARCI1.
rurious Souyenirs Of the Iron Chancellor From
- "
Count Won Duest's Memoirs. :.

Count Won Duest's Memoirs. :,
Translated from the Figaro for the New
Orleans Ymes-Dem ocrat.
Our political understanding with
the German empire having become
more satisfactory after the close OF
1870, I deemed it we'll to renew with
Herr Won Bismarck the relations
which had ceased after 1866, and Ileft
Tor Gastein.
The three weeks which passed
there with him form one of the most
agreeable souvenirs Of ofmyexistence. We
lived together at the Straublnger
Hotel, and passed the time IN each
Others company. When one is on
good terms with Bismarck, he is the
most agreeable, the most amiable man
possible to imagine. The originality;
Of his ideas is surpassed only by the
originality Of the expressions which he
uses. He is good-natured, and his
good-natured manner somewhat SOFT
ems the bitterness of the opinions
which he utters- One of his favorite
expressions is; s'He's an idiot" c'est
un imbeci!e)-but he does not intend
to hurt ones feelings.
One day he said to me: 'What do
you do, when things don't go as you
want them to? you should never lose
your temper as do. I am an
gered with men for their wickedness,
never for their stupidity. Do you
never find a real pleasure i'm breaking
something on such occasions2 With
the ideas you have, you would smash
all the furniture in the house. IF you
were in my place.
81 went once to see him one day."
continued Bismarck, pointing, as he
spoke, to the windows of the Emperor
William, "but got into an internal
passion. banged the door with such
violence that the door-knob. came, off
in my hand. l went into LehndorFs,
and | slammed the door-knob into
the wash-basin, breaking it into q
Thousand pieces. Are you sick2'
Lenhdorf asked me. No. said I, but
l was And, indeed, my anger was
over"
He talkedsto me great deal about
the war OF 1870, and his nego tiations
with Jules Favre and Theirs. s'The
time OF the expiration OF the armis~
tice was nearly over, " Bismarck said
to me one day, land said to Thiers;.
Listen, Monsieur Theirs, have born
your eloquence for whole hour, and
we must have an end of it, L give.
you warning now that l WON'T talk
French any more; l shall only talk
German But, monsieur said Thiers,
We do not understand a word. of Ger
man. That makes no difference to me-;
| shall speak nothing but German
Then and there Thiers delivered me a.
suberb address, in five parts, winch l
listened to, smiling, and 1 answered
HIM in German. Favre and he remain
ed there half an hour IN silence; but an
hour after they had signed the proto-
col. Then [ at once began to talk to-
them in French
Bismarck told me all this intiust
such a tone as one ordinarily uses in
telling a. hunting-story. He did not
seem to have the least idea of the
mental tortures which the two wretch
ed French delegates must have passed
through during that half-hour.
He also told me one day that after
the review held by the Emperor WIZ
lam upon the eLongchamps race. course,
a man in q blouse came up to him
and said to him: Bismarck, ties rne
canaille!" bismarck, you're a vii
lain). II could have had him shot,"
continued Bismarck; "but his courage
made an impression on me'
Another time he told me that he
had been very mnch opposed to the.
annexation OF Metz
II only yielded to the military par
ty," said he, "who claimed that Metz
was worth a hundred thousand men
to us. Oh! if Bazaine had been able
to hold out four weeks longer at Metz
we would have been obliged to raise
she siege Of Paris"
Otherwise it is very difficult to put
confidence in Bismarck. One day
when we were talking about the Ger
man provinces of Austria asked him
If he had never thought of annexins
them. ''That would be very stupid
thing to do,' he replied. s'The popu-
lation is Catholic. 1t would form an
opposition center. 1t would be a.
great deal better TO annex Holland ''~
Several months later | was an am
bassador at London. The Dutch
charge d daffaires, who had just ar
rived from Berlin, told me by chance
that one evening when he had asked
Herr Won Bismarck whether it was,
true that Germany thought of annex
ing Holland, the chancellor had all.
swered him. THAT would be q stu,
pid thing to dcf It would only make
an opposition center. 1t would be .
mucn better to- annex Austria!"
had another example of this dM-
pliclty. In the negotiations which en-
sued after Sadowa, Bismarck kept
perpetually talking about his love Sor
Austria, for. Vienna and his wish. to
spare the Niennese the humiliation of
an occupation. One day lit was at
,Gastein) Al certain Henry Christ, q
good Frankfort bourgeois, who used to
know Bismarck in the times of the
Diet, askaGs him in my presence: @TeIl
me your lhlgghness why did younorenter
Vienna In 1866? You used always to
tell us att frankie that the r ,.,s vo,,